The Cinders of a Fire: Smoldering Hearts Book One
by Floodtail of FloodClan
Summary: When Cinderpaw was crippled by Tigerclaw's deadly trap, she was given an option to become a medicine cat and serve her Clan in a way not for her. But what if she diverted the inevitable path? What if she achieved more than any cat ever thought possible for her?


_"Cinderpaw, stay _here!" Fireheart meowed, dashing out of camp.

Cinderpaw stared at where he had disappeared, and then looked furtively over her shoulder.

No cat was watching her.

She took a tentative step towards the exit, then another, and another. Finally she dashed out, into the rustling forest. Birdsong twittered in the trees and shafts of light at random stretched ahead of her. She could hear the rush of the river and the roar of the Thunderpath distantly.

She inhaled, and a scent, though faint, marked her trail: Tigerclaw. If she took this message back to the warrior, it would save Fireheart time they could be training. She tracked the scent, her nose to the ground. The noise of the Thunderpath became louder, and she burst onto the strip of greasy grass.

Cinderpaw looked around, confused. Tigerclaw was nowhere in sight. No monsters were in view or sound, so she took a cautious, fleeting step onto the sticky black stone. "Tigerclaw?" she yowled. No answer.

She bounded to the center. "Tigerclaw!"

A monster's roar sounded. She pricked her ears up, and scrambled away. Her claws slipped right off the Thunderpath, allowing her no grip on the greasy ground. The roar rushed in her ears, her fur was flattened, and she was crouched down.

She felt something strike her.

Jagged flashes of red crossed her vision. Harsh light blinded her, and pain shot through her. She heard a sickening crunch before she blacked out into an agonized half consciousness.

_Pain _

_Make it stop_

_Make it stop_

_Broken_

_Pain_

A dull ache throbbed through her. She raised her head.

Am... am I in StarClan? she wondered dully. But she had always imagined that in StarClan the pain would go away... so she couldn't be there, maybe. She looked around. There was stone surrounding her, and sharp scents wafted up her nose.

Am I in the medicine den?

A face peered into hers, one she knew. It was flattened and scarred, with sharp orange eyes. "Yellowfang?" she croaked.

"Hush. Don't move." Yellowfang growled. She turned, grasped some cobwebs and leaves, and laid them next to her haunches. Cinderpaw, with enormous effort, craned her head, gasping when she saw her leg. The fur was matted with poultice and blood. Her hind leg was mangled- the paw was almost backward and it was swollen, with patchy fur.

"What happened?" she said, hissing with pain and with the effort of it, head spinning with lightheadedness.

"You got hit on the Thunderpath, and it did considerable damage to the bone and tendons in your hind leg."

She twisted around, staring anxiously at the medicine cat. "Bu-but... I will be able to train...right? I mean... I'll be able to be a warrior? I have to be!"

She thought she saw the answer reflected in Yellowfang's amber eyes, but she was numb with shock. "We'll see." Yellowfang meowed.

She pawed a few black seeds toward Cinderpaw. "Eat these."

Cinderpaw groaned, leaning forward and lapping them up, falling into sleep, and oblivion.

...

When she woke, he blinked, the realization of her situation tumbling back, piercing her heart like claws. Yellowfang was sitting, studying her leg with a frown on her face.

"Cinderpaw..." Yellowfang rasped. "I assessed the damage to your leg while you were asleep." Cinderpaw gaped. "And what?" she mewed.

Yellowfang was blunt. "It is permanent damage. You will never be able to become a warrior, Cinderpaw."  
Her jaw dropped, and the throb in her leg became more pronounced, telling her of what she couldn't have, what it had so cruelly taken from her, how her dreams were being snatched away and she could almost hear them whoosh by as she realized they were now unachievable...  
Her heart, once so carefree, now had the weight of stone.

"I would suggest you become my apprentice. Give some thought to it. I'm getting old and I won't last forever."  
She turned and padded out of the cleft in the rock.

Cinderpaw laid her head on her paws, and then moved her pads to her ears, muffling them; as if she could block the sound of her thoughts.  
The ferns at the entrance rustled, and a cat came in. Cinderpaw turned away bitterly. She was useless and a cripple, a burden to the Clan. No one would want to see her now.

"C-Cinderpaw? Can I come in?"  
She still kept her back toward the cat and her leg, painful though it was, tucked under her and hidden.

"I'm...so sorry... this is my entire fault."  
Now she looked up, and saw her mentor, sitting beside her with grief written in his face. Her heart skipped a beat.  
She sighed, and he leaned over her. "I should've made you stay. It's my fault, Cinderpaw; I...I..."

"It's not your fault... I should have listened." Suddenly what had been pent up inside of her came pouring out.  
"I'm never going to be a true warrior-am I?"

His face became deeper lined with sadness.

"No." he whispered. "I'm so sorry."


End file.
